Step Up Your Entertaining Game With $25 or Less

Floral Design

Apr 16

Written By

Three pretty arrangements made from grocery store flowers

We all know that feeling. It's the day before you're hosting your best friend's bridal shower, and you realize the party you've planned is just missing something. Spruce up your next hosted event with some quick DIY floral arrangements. We'll show you exactly what you need to put together a few small floral arrangements to wow your guest next time you're entertaining.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

First thing's first. Get all of your materials together. You'll need:

Clean clippers or a sharp pair of scissors
A big vase full of water to hydrate your flowers before assembling everything
A collection of unique vases
A bundle of mixed flowers from the closest grocery store

Putting all the supplies out on the table

Vases

You don't need big expensive vases to make a big impact. Check around your house or take a trip to a store like TJ Maxx to find unique, affordable vases. You'll want one vase in particular for a focal arrangement. We like quirky vessels with faces on them, but whatever style you fancy will work! Collect some other vessels for much smaller arrangements like cute jam jars, neat glasses you've collected over the years, or even small creamer pitchers.

Flowers

When selecting a bundle of mixed flowers at the grocery store, look for bouquets with similar colors. Selecting an analogous color scheme ensures that your arrangements will look cohesive. We selected two bouquets with several shades of pink and white flowers.

Step 2: Separate Your Flowers

Take your flowers out of the sleeve and lay them out by type and color. This is a nice way to see everything you've got to work with, and makes it easy to grab flowers as you put your arrangements together.

Step 3: Begin With the Largest Vase

If you're making more than one arrangement, start with the largest one. In our case, we created the arrangement with the face vase first. If you're working with a wide opening and a flat base, you can add a skinnier glass in the center to arrange inside of. This creates a smaller area for the flowers to sit in so the stems have less room to move around.

Begin by adding some flowers low, so pieces of greenery and/or petals hang below the lip of the vase. Work your way up, grouping flowers by color. We began with the spray roses and alstroemeria because they have nice clusters of flowers which work well for placing low, and breaking the hard line at the opening of the vessel.

Continue by adding taller flowers throughout your arrangement, clustering them by type. We clustered some pink roses toward the back, and added in a cluster of pink rice flower to the left side, a cluster of light pink flowers toward the front, and the white bellflower pokes out tallest in the back. Finally, we added in the more whimsical, fluttery filler flowers, and adjusted as needed.

Step 4: Create the Smaller Arrangements

With the remaining flowers, create as many small arrangements as you're able. The smaller your vessels, the more arrangements you'll be able to put together. Clustering several small arrangements of varying heights on a buffet or down the center of a dining table can have a really visually stunning impact. If you're only able to make a single additional arrangement or two, consider putting them somewhere near the larger arrangement as an accent piece.

Ultimately, there are no rules for putting together flowers for a party you're hosting. With some unique vessels and keeping your flower color palette limited, you'll be able to add a fresh, chic aspect to your bridal shower, girl's night, or dinner party—even with little time and a small budget.

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